Browsing by Subject "explaining"

The purpose of this study was to investigate explaining among third grade primary school students undergoing inquiry-based science project. Secondly, the aim of the study was to observe the ways with which the teacher sought to promote and scaffold explanation development by students. Previous studies have shown that self-made explanations have an impact on learning outcomes. Explaining has a particularly important role in science education in which the starting point for teaching should be in utilizing students' own experiences, skills and knowledge. This is a qualitative case study written from a socio-cultural point of view using video research as a method. The class in question had 18 students. Material was collected during the spring 2008, when a science project was carried out in the class. In this study I analyzed 6 classes all related to the project. I categorized the explanations using a modified literature-based classification system. These categories were descriptive and developmental intuitive explanations, descriptive and developmental unifying explanations, descriptive and developmental scientific explanations and unclassified explanations. In order to find out the possible methods the teacher used as scaffolds, I further analyzed all the developmental scientific explanations made by the students. I analyzed discovered scaffolding methods using transcribed examples of the classroom discourse. The results indicated that students' explanations changed during the monitoring period. Intuitive explanations and unifying explanations had a relatively high share in the first lesson, after which it decreased. Nevertheless, this category of explanations did not totally disappear either. The number of descriptive scientific explanations stayed relatively high throughout the analyzed period but the share of the developmental scientific explanations increased. By using certain methods the teacher seemed to support the creation of developmental scientific explanations. Those methods were teacher-led questions, mediating conversation and invocation of students' experience and expertise. The study offers examples of what kind of a role explaining has in practical school work, as well as ways how teachers can support students' explanation development during the classes.